This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

Villaraigosa, a former Assembly speaker known for his ready smile and nervous energy, returned nearly $50,000 to employees of two Florida companies with possible interests in gaining concession contracts at Los Angeles International Airport.

"I consider Antonio — and this is said as a compliment — Antonio is a flaming liberal, Hahn is a centrist," said Joe Cerrell, a veteran Democratic political strategist who is not working for either candidate. "The business community that I speak to is a little nervous about" Villaraigosa.

ADV, when asked how he will fund new police and other matters, keeps adding at the end "I want to have a dialogue with the people about that!"

Start writing the checks, taxpayers... when tax-and-spend liberals say they want to "dialogue" then mean tray and justify a significant tax increase that will make and trash fee increase look like LESS than pocket change -- maybe pocket "lint" in comparison.

"""""I want to tell you that before I was not aware of who A. Villaraigosa really was. After reading this Blog site for over 2 months and referring all of my family members to it; the entire candidates have been clarified for us. We blindly followed A. Villaraigosa to his every word, because he is a Latino. If the candidates were both the color BLUE and I would base my decision on what they have each accomplished, said, and kept as promises....well...my decision and that of all my family members is to vote for Mr. Hahn.

I don't know if more of you out there did this, but for the past months since I started reading the blog, I referred my family members. They in turn, referred other family members and friends. Yesterday we had a family wedding, it was over 400 people. The table I was at was discussing all of the topics that came in light in this blog, yes all the good and especially all the dirty stuff from A. Villaraigosa. Villaraigosa has lost almost all of his support from this family, I can only imagine if this has happened to other families."""""

The clashes over trust overshadowed discussion of other issues, including education, traffic and public safety, though both Hahn and Villaraigosa refused to promise that they would not raise taxes to pay for more police.

It is lamentable that there is a body of opinion in this chamber that the earnings of the people belong to the state, and people should be grateful for what we let them keep. I’ll never forget Mr. Villaraigosa’s comment last year when a radio interviewer asked him, will you give back some of the state’s surplus to the people? He said, “we do give it back to them when they spend it for them.”

The $20 billion in new state revenues has cost the average family about $2,500. These proposals would allow Mr. Villaraigosa and his friends to spend $1,500 of that money, and return just $1,000 to the families for them to spend. And then let’s see who can spend it more wisely.

I received a POWERFUL recorded phone message yesterday. Well it would have been powerful if I were Latino.

On my voicemail was a message from Maria Elena something, the widow of Miguel Contreras. In the message she said that even though the AFL-CIO endorsed Hahn, in his heart Miguel wanted all Latino union members to vote for Villaraigosa.

I'm a union member, but I don't have a Spanish surname.

Great message, but whoever did this really screwed up the targeting by including non-Latinos. Undoubtedly another Villaraigosa illegally coordinated independent expenditure.

You are obviously Mr. Villaraigosa's right hand pretending to sulk in racism to cast the opposition in a negativel light.

Maybe you didn't pass the 6th grade, but what I think the poster meant is "word of mouth" process. In the Latino community it works quite well. I read the post and it does not say anywhere that all 400 people were talking about it, just a table. I just hope for Antonio's sake that not all live within the voting districts or else it will be painful.

I just caught a bit of the news, the tape that incriminates one of today's politicans is going to be released in the evening news. I noticed they didn't say Villaraigosa's or Hahn's name, just mentioned "today's politicians." Wasnt' there a Villaraigosa tape, or is it Hahn tape?

City council voted for the LAX expansion so go tell them. Secondly, Antonio supports illegal vendors. All anyone has to do is take a ride into Boyle Heights and the evidence speaks for itself. There's hundreds and he doesn't do anything about it.

I just got a call from Sheriff Baca pleading that Hahn has taken ONE vote out of context. Gee, I guess those anti-Hahn tv ads aren't working.

TIMING TIMING TIMING. DAVID AVILA JUST GOT SENTENCED TO DEATH. You all know him the child killer who raped, tortured little 5 yr Samantha Runnion. Remember its the bill Antonio voted AGAINST

FINALLY, proof positive that the Fake GOP4AV person is indeed, not only NOT a Republican, but is a VERY transparent liberal Dem.

No Republican, born, bred, or EVEN converted late in life (or even Libertarians for that matter), would ever say this publicly, or privately about ANY candidate for political office:

"...at least Antonio understands that you have to create wealth to be able to help people."

None would EVER suggest that government has ANYTHING whatsover to do with "creating wealth." To suggest that in a GOP meeting would get your stoned in public.

It is the deepest, most sacred part of the GOP mantra that government can NEVER create wealth... it only takes it AWAY from those who earn it and either uses it well, or does not.

Government, especially the massive, all-encompassing liberal democractic form, always inhibits the creation of wealth, at every turn and attempts to "distribute" what does exist more "equitably" until NO ONE can produce it any longer.

You are exposed, fraud. Give up the very bad act, and go back and face the gulag awaiting you when your socialist masters get wind of this HUGE obvious blunder here.

This Wednesday, the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and developer Richard Meruelo's Merco Group are scheduled to appear in Superior Court to argue over the ownership of a crucial plot of land next to the school. Letting this dispute actually get before a judge would be the worst possible scenario for all involved.SCI-Arc moved to Downtown in 2000, leaving its Marina Del Rey home and transforming a dilapidated railway depot at Third Street and Santa Fe Avenue into an urban campus buzzing with the activity of some 500 architecture students and faculty. The momentum extended to the surrounding neighborhood, which now boasts coffee shops, restaurants and residential complexes that did not venture near here before SCI-Arc.

For several years, the school used an adjacent lot for parking. Then, in early 2004, the owner of that parcel, Dynamic Builders, sold the property and other plots of land to Meruelo and his partner Danny Villanueva (who, according to Meruelo, is no longer involved). The new owners wasted no time announcing a plan to build residential towers. By some accounts they would be 50 stories tall, ludicrous by community standards for residential development, and probably not a serious suggestion. It smells more like the opening gambit in a negotiation, one designed to freak out the neighborhood. Which it did.

Matters went downhill fast. SCI-Arc claimed it had the right to purchase part of the property, although earlier efforts to do so seem to have gone nowhere. Then Meruelo fenced off the lot. Last July he told Los Angeles Downtown News doing so was in response to a lawsuit filed by SCI-Arc. So both sides have thrown down some form of gauntlet.

We're not sure who has the rights to the land, but we know that if a judge or jury makes the decision, then someone will end up angry, and may continue to drag the argument through a legal morass for years to come. Going to court would be a self-defeating disaster, considering that both sides have mutual interests in an active Arts District.

Each is stronger when combined with the other. Nonprofit SCI-Arc lacks the financial muscle to make the nearby property as vibrant as it can be; at the same time, without the life provided by SCI-Arc, Meruelo would have fewer target market tenants. Or if the 50-story tower idea wasn't real, Meruelo's land would almost certainly be less valuable with SCI-Arc gone.

You may have seen that Meruelo is a major contributor to Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa's mayoral campaign, and that he has been zapped in the media recently because of it. But that issue should not draw attention from this matter, crucial to the Arts District's future.)

Of course, the real weight falls on the shoulders of the dueling parties, and SCI-Arc brass must be chastised for occasionally threatening to leave the neighborhood, claiming that they can't stay unless they get their way. This is a brinksmanship tactic and experienced leaders like SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss and prize-winning architect and school founding member Thom Mayne should know better than to play this card. Instead of stomping their feet like children (or like embarrassed adults who know they should have moved quickly on the property when they had a chance), they ought to apply some of that creative problem solving they are so famous for.

At the same time, Meruelo's chain link fence around the disputed lot has not helped matters. Why not take it down as a gesture of good faith and a sign that negotiations can re-open?

We know talks have been held in the past, that no agreement has been found, and that's why the court date is coming. Still, there is a last opportunity to step back, and a last opportunity for city leaders to play a role. It's a large plot of land and people with ingenuity are involved on all sides. Surely there is a way for everyone to get some of what they want, if not everything. What happens here affects not just SCI-Arc and Meruelo, but all of Downtown.

That Republican for Av is Ace SMith. he is Mr. king of dirt research, one of few who could actually pretend to be on the other side this long. He's that bald self serving idiot next to that dorky looking Nathan. I saw AV on television, he looks and sounds terrible, what's going on?

Ummm. 11:46 DOOFUS, that graphic was lifted by BOTH camps from the LAVOTE site -- publicly created, no copyright, anyone can lift it/link to it/etc..

PLEASE get a better slam list.

LOOK AT THIS BLOG, the only "creative" people here are the Anti-ANtonio's... the brain-dead sheep Hahn-haters tell us every other message about "nails in coffins" and people being "toast" and "sinking ships"

If you google "Sister City" and any one of those terms you get 4,997 matches, just since last October (all from Hahn-haters).

Not a creative in the bunch. Chief FAKER even has to steal signoff lines from Meat and the "Patho-Liar" guy.

This story about the trash fee is instructive about what is going on in politics today.

No one including either Hahn or Villaraigosa would ever seriously propose charging a fee like this without having all sorts of discussion to try and get people to sign off on the idea.

So why did Fujioka (who supposedly works for Jim Hahn in city hall) come out with this inflamatory statement right before the election? It's simple. He is reading the polls that say Villaraigosa is probably going to win and he thinks by stabbing his current boss in the back he has a better chance of keeping his job.

If you have followed this election, you have seen numerous cases of people endorsing and praising Jim Hahn when it looked like he was going to win (Laura Chick, Dennis Zine, etc.) then trashing him to high heaven when the polls showed him to be a likely loser. You have also seen a lot of people who have trashed Antonio for years (Bob Hertzberg, Tony Cardenas, Jane Harman) come out and endorse him. This whole mentality of bandwagon jumping is now carrying over to city staff.

Not one of the people I mentioned ever suggested that they were dissatisfied with Jim Hahn until polls showed him to be in trouble. Not one of them ever encouraged someone else to run for Mayor because we needed a change. Now they are all jumping on the bandwagon.

Don't get me wrong, I am a Hahn supporter and I know that if the poll results were the other way, there would be just as many phony endorsers of Jim Hahn. I just think it's disgusting that no one stands for anything except for trying to get ahead and as a Hahn supporter who still thinks he can win, I am looking forward to seeing all of those people with egg on their faces.

I think the whole thing is like the scene in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" where Sundance is challenged by a much bigger guy to a fight with the winner assuming control of the "hole in the wall" gang. Everyone is acting like they are behind the big guy, but when Sundance wins, they all start saying "Oh, we were always behind you, you know that". On wednesday morning, expect the same thing from a lot of embarrassed politico's.

The natives are obviously restless on Mount Washington, Antiono Villaraigosa's home community for more than a decade. On the very EVE (coincidence) of a vote to make their "Lackluster" City Councilmember mayor of L.A., the largest homeowners group (the one not controlled by ADV supporters), issues a stern warning re: a local issue that definitely sounds like they are at least a little skeptical about Antonio's ability to "kiss the boo-boo away" if/when he becomes mayor - as he promised at a community meeting about the time of the L.A. primary. Is FAITH in local "chieftan" Villaraigosa crumbling all around his holy hill (and if so, is it any wonder -- these people's children would have attended the high school lost to one of Villaraigosa's camapign supporters under very suspicious circumstances).

Maybe they are coming to understand that when he says he "supports" something, Antonio speaks with "forked tongue?"

Alliance Also Calls Upon The Southwest Museum Coalition To Consider An Autry Membership Boycott And An Autry Donor Education Project Until The Autry Makes An Appropriate Commitment To Operate The Southwest Museum

Today the Executive Committee of the Mount Washington Homeowners’; Alliance (“Alliance”), the largest community-based organization in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Mount Washington, issued a letter to the Board of Directors of the Autry National Center (“Autry”) communicating the Alliance general membership’s unanimous rejection of the Autry’s recent public declaration that it would move the Southwest Museum to a new $100 million building to be constructed in Griffith Park and commence a public input process to identify “alternative” uses for the Mount Washington campus of the Southwest Museum.

A few years ago, when the Southwest Museum was struggling financially, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage entered into negotiations to assume operations of the Southwest Museum and its priceless treasure trove of Native American artifacts and art. As part of the Merger Agreement eventually approved by the former Board of Directors of the Southwest Museum and the California Attorney General, the Autry agreed to prepare a Master Plan studying the two museums and their operation under the umbrella name of the “Autry National Center.” This study has never been prepared and released to the public yet in early March of 2005 the Autry announced that it had decided to build a new building for the Southwest Museum on taxpayer-owned land in Griffith Park next to the existing Museum of the American West. In its press release, the Autry also publicly announced that:

“The project will physically merge the multiple institutions that have come together in recent years to form the Autry National Center. A large portion of the Autry’s expansion will be dedicated to the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, quintupling the gallery space currently devoted to its world-class collection.”

The Autry’s press release indicated that other uses would be explored for the current campus of the Southwest Museum: “Los Angeles architect Brenda Levin and urban planner Fred Glick are exploring potential future uses of the 12-acre Mt. Washington campus. . . .”

Public response to the Autry’s announcement that it would “physically merge” the Museum of the American West and the Southwest Museum was met with universal condemnation by elected officials and the 75-member community-based Southwest Museum Coalition. A public meeting was held on March 30, 2005, attended by over 250 community residents and organizational representatives where a motion was adopted that until the Autry made a legally binding commitment to continue to operate the Southwest Museum on Mount Washington, it should be denied any further development permits to use taxpayer-owned lands in Griffith Park. In the context of these events, at the Alliance’s General Membership meeting on Monday, May 9, 2005, the organization considered and adopted all but one of four motions unanimously. The first motion was based upon the initial policy position taken on March 30, 2005 by the 75-member Southwest Museum Coalition. This motion called upon the Autry to make a legally binding commitment to operate the Southwest Museum as a condition of being allowed to construct any new facility in Griffith Park. Victoria Tanaka, President of the Alliance, observed: “The Coalition has sought for two years to work with the Autry and seek an amicable resolution of concerns about the Autry’s stewardship of the Southwest Museum and its collection. The current Autry plan to toss aside the nationally significant Southwest Museum campus and the investment of millions of dollars of taxpayer transportation funds to build a rail station at the Southwest Museum, without ever fulfilling its promise to conduct a Master Plan study of the entire Autry National Center, is unconscionable. We reluctantly found it necessary to ask our Coalition partners to take a stronger stand against the Autry’s current course.”

The Alliance put on the table three other strong responses to recent Autry actions. The second motion directed the Board of the Alliance to send a letter to the Autry rejecting any proposal to explore alternative uses for the Mount Washington campus of the Southwest Museum until a public input process on uses complementary to the Southwest Museum were first explored -- a promise made to the Alliance membership by the Autry’s CEO, John Gray, last year and never implemented by the Autry. The motion also called upon the Southwest Museum Coalition to work with elected officials to conduct an immediate public input process (with or without Autry cooperation) to identify uses complementary to the Southwest Museum location in order to enhance possible revenue streams to support the Southwest Museum location.

The third motion adopted by the membership of the Alliance called upon the Southwest Museum Coalition to obtain legal counsel and work with elected officials to ask the California Attorney General to open an investigation of the Autry’s fulfillment of promises made in the Merger Agreement with the former Board of the Southwest Museum. The California Attorney General has jurisdiction and enforcement authority over charitable organizations including museums such as the Autry.

The fourth motion, which passed with one opposed and three abstaining, called upon the Southwest Museum Coalition, in the absence of fulfillment of the Autry’s legal and moral obligations to the Southwest Museum, to commence a wide-spread Internet-based campaign to convince Autry members to boycott renewal of their memberships until the Autry makes proper legally binding commitments to the Southwest Museum. Furthermore, the motion called upon the Coalition to also use the Internet-based campaign to educate Autry donors of the substance of the wide-spread objections to the plan to “physically merge” the two museums and call upon such donors to withhold donations or further pledges to the Griffith Park building until there is a resolution of this dispute.

The Alliance’s letter to the Autry indicated that the Alliance would withhold urging the Southwest Museum Coalition to conduct a boycott and donor education program if the Autry offered some concrete commitment to satisfactorily resolve this controversy within the next 45 days.

1. Motion Urging The Autry National Center to Commit to Southwest Museum:

Having been entrusted with the Southwest Museum’s assets and priceless collection through a Merger Agreement with the formerSouthwest Museum Board of Trustees in which Autry National Center made certain promises to the former Southwest Museum Board members and the California Attorney General, having been entrusted with a nationally historic building in which millions of state and local transportation funds have been expended to establish a Southwest Museum public rail station at its front door, and occupying taxpayer-owned public lands in Griffith Park free of charge for the Museum of the American West, the Autry National Center has both a legal and moral responsibility to maintain and revitalize the Southwest Museum’s Mount Washington home so that it will play as much of an integral role in the future cultural and economic development of Los Angeles as it did in the past.

The Mount Washington Homeowners’ Alliance joins the Southwest Museum Coalition and other organizations in urging that as a condition of being allowed to retain perpetual possession of the Southwest Museum collection and as a condition of a perpetual permit allowing the maintenance of (or new development of) Autry museum facilities in Griffith Park on lands owned by the taxpayers of the City of Los Angeles, the Board of the Autry National Center make a legally binding commitment for the perpetual maintenance and operation of Mount Washington’s Southwest Museum venue as a primary exhibition site of its collection.

Further, in addition to fulfilling all legal commitments contained in the Southwest Museum/Autry Western Heritage Museum Merger Agreement, the Alliance calls upon the Autry National Center to commit to a thorough programmatic study to determine how the Casa de Adobe and Southwest Museum may continue to be operated in a manner consistent with its founders’ vision, as a reflection of the cultural, historical and artistic heritage of the Southwest, of California, and of the City of Los Angeles.

2. Motion To Initiate The Public Input Process For The Museum In The Absence Of Any Process From The Autry National Center:

The Mount Washington Homeowners' Alliance calls upon and will support and assist the Southwest Museum Coalition and offices of elected officials to conduct one or more community meetings to solicit public input on other complementary uses for the Southwest Museum campus that are consistent with the continued operation of the Mount Washington campus as a primary exhibition location of the Southwest collection -- consistent with the vision and tradition of Charles Lummis, founder of the Southwest Museum. Furthermore the Alliance directs its Board to send a letter to the Autry National Center objecting to an Autry-sponsored public process that only explores alternative uses for the Mount Washington campus instead of carrying out the representations of Executive Director John Gray, made to the Alliance at a meeting last year, that the Autry would carry out a public input process to explore uses complementary to the Southwest Museum operation on Mount Washington.

The Mount Washington Homeowners' Alliance urges the Southwest Museum Coalition to retain expert legal counsel in non-profit organizations to investigate whether there has been or will soon be a breach of the Autry/Southwest Museum Merger Agreement. If such a breach has occurred or is imminent, the Southwest Museum Coalition is encouraged to work with elected officials to call upon the California Attorney General to open an investigation of the Autry National Center's compliance with the Merger Agreement and to take all appropriate enforcement actions necessary to obtain a legally binding commitment from the Autry National Center to maintain and operate the Southwest Museum in perpetuity as a condition of perpetual possession of theSouthwest Museum collection.

The Mount Washington Homeowners' Alliance calls upon the Southwest Museum Coalition to organize an Internet-based lobbying campaign to spread across Los Angeles and California messages calling for members and donors of the Autry National Center to withhold renewal of memberships and condition any financial support of the Autry National Center's preservation of the Southwest Museum collection upon the Autry entering into a legally binding agreement with the California Attorney General to maintain and operate the Southwest Museum at the historic and culturally significant Mount Washington campus envisioned and constructed by the founder of the museum, Charles Lummis.